HELP Hearing Next Tuesday To Discuss Devastation Caused By Republican Abortion Bans Nationwide Two Years Post-Dobs: 41 States Have Bans With Limited Exceptions

Sanders and Murray Announce HELP Hearing on Devastation Caused by Republican Abortion Bans Two Years Post-Dobbs

Editor’s note: Staten Islander News has covered the topic of abortion bans in depth in the past, primarily as a religious freedom issue.  As discussed in the documentary “Under G-d,” which we reviewed, as well as in an article from The Forward, of the four major world religions by adherents mentioned in the film, plus Judaism (which makes up less than 1% of the population worldwide), ONLY Christians of most denominations believe that life begins at conception.  80% of Jews, along with most Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists believe life begins at birth.  Thus, these abortion bans, which exist now in 41 states across the country, where women are restricted from obtaining an abortion with only limited exceptions.  Louisiana, Alabama, and Indiana have higher maternal mortality rates than other states such as New York, Colorado, and California.  

WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), former HELP Committee Chair, announced that the Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 4 at 10:00 a.m. ET on the tremendous harm, chaos, and heartbreak that the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and Republican abortion bans have created in the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Murray will chair the hearing, titled “The Assault on Women’s Freedoms: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America.”

“In the two years since Roe was overturned, Republican abortion bans have created a full-blown health care crisis — forcing providers to close their doors and shut down their practices, putting women’s lives in danger, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant, no matter their circumstances,” said Sanders and Murray. “The Dobbs decision and Republican abortion bans have forced women to leave their states under duress or wait until they are near-death to receive care. Providers have been forced to make gut-wrenching decisions about whether to risk jail time to help a woman access the health care she needs. The harm of Dobbs has extended far beyond states with extreme abortion bans. In places where abortion remains legal, women are waiting longer for care, and providers are struggling to keep up with a dramatically increased patient load.

“The threats to a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body and her future keep coming — right now Republicans are working to rip away access to safe medication abortion, block women from receiving emergency abortion care that could save their lives, ban abortion nationwide, and restrict access to contraception. And Republican attacks on basic health care are only escalating. The anti-abortion movement has shown its cruelty and utter disregard for women’s lives again and again, and it is essential that we use every opportunity to continue to make clear exactly how extreme right-wing abortion bans and restrictions on reproductive health care have endangered women, hurt families, and rolled back rights.

“We must continue to shine a light on the living nightmare extreme right-wing abortion bans and other health care restrictions have been for women across the country, and do everything we can to restore every woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.”

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Details
What: Senate HELP Committee Hearing titled, “The Assault on Women’s Freedoms: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America”
When: Tuesday, June 4, 10:00 a.m. ET
Where: Room 106, Dirksen Senate Office Building. The hearing will also be livestreamed on the HELP Committee’s website and Sanders’ socials
Who: Witnesses to be announced

Banner Image: Abortion protest. Image Credit – Gayatri Malhotra

Senator Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is serving his third term in the U.S. Senate after winning re-election in 2018. His previous 16 years in the House of Representatives make him the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history.